


The Devil (Reversed)

by Janus51



Series: Tarot Prompts [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Introspection, No Plot/Plotless, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 13:59:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8211064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janus51/pseuds/Janus51
Summary: Papillon contemplates his motives after another defeat.





	

Papillon felt his connection to the akuma unravel as Ladybug purified it. He growled, resisted the urge to stamp his foot like an outraged toddler. Another failure, another chance lost, another day wasted.

Despite his stiff posture, Papillon still felt his heart pounding, his breathing grow heavy. His grip tightened on his cane. A shadowed corner of his mind whispered, “Why? Why bother? Give in. The time, the energy, the rage isn’t worth it…”

He tore the broach from his shirt, feeling the transformation shatter. Nooroo tumbled into the air before him, staring up at him. The kwami didn’t speak, only floated there, trembling and whimpering as dust motes floated around him, illuminated in the ghostly glow of the butterflies.

A click and the broach opened to show her picture, with her bright smile and sun-haloed hair. Was it worth it? The time, the pain, the rage, the failures? Were they worth it?

The shadowy corner of his mind, whose voice now seemed pleading, desperate with loneliness, whispered again. He could stop. He could throw the brooch, and the power, and the unrelenting failures away. He could return to his life as though nothing had ever changed. He could go back to his family, he should...

But then he looked at her picture again. Felt the outrage at this terrible, fetid world that had dared to steal what was his. Would likely steal from him again if he didn’t change it for the better.

Everything had changed.

There was no real choice, he determined, as the air filled with the rustling of butterfly wings, the shadows twitching insanely in their glow. The world was dangerous, rotten. He needed the power to change it. He would bring her back, and present her with a new world. A paradise.

In a room with blinding white wings and creeping shadows, the Papillon prepared himself for his next attempt, bolstering his will with a terrible love and a wretched hope.

**Author's Note:**

> “Pay attention to what you feel resentful towards or burdened by today. Whatever you are feeling weighed down by, remember, it is something you chose, and also something you can unchoose. Assess whether you want to remain committed to that which you have tied yourself to. It may not seem like it, but you do have a choice.”
> 
> (From the Galaxy Tone Galaxy Tarot App)
> 
> This was the advice the app gave for this card, it seemed like a nice chance to think about Papillon. Very short, not terribly deep, but I liked keeping Papillon's identity mostly ambiguous.


End file.
